Sturdy Strawberry Buttercream
Creamy frosting with a bright strawberry flavor that won’t turn soft or melt off your cake. Freeze dried berries make it fruit-forward while maintaining the integrity of your buttercream texture. Plus, you’re adding nothing but fruit, so it’s almost a health food. Almost.
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Fun fact: The distinctly different photos here are due to one round of photos being taken in the evening by one of my windows while the others were taken the next morning by another window. Isn’t lighting fun?
Why “sturdy”?
I recently received my first “tried this recipe” on Pinterest! It was someone at high elevation whose cake rose more than the one I pictured. Luckily, it still turned out well! But it reminded me how much climate can affect baking. It makes me wonder why I don’t see more articles about the variances. Maybe I’ll start that trend. 🤔
Anyway, while elevation has an impact on bake time (I’m a sea level, but when I go to Lake Tahoe, I have to bake at lower temperatures and check often), humidity and ambient temperature are important things to consider, too. A year ago I spent weeks experimenting with ways to make strawberry frosting that won’t melt in 100+ degree heat. It’s not easy. And while meringue powder helps stabilize frosting, it’s prone to creating a gummy texture and grainy finish if mixed too long. I’m still not comfortable using it.
If you time it right, you can use plain old buttercream in high heat by keeping it cold until the last second. But softer buttercream, like the raspberry buttercream I make by incorporating some fresh raspberry jam, are much more prone to melting and even separating. No one wants a greasy cupcake.
Enter freeze dried fruit.
It’s a life saver. It acts as a stabilizer, similar to adding extra powdered sugar to thicken your frosting, but with a great fruit flavor. It also brings a natural fruit coloring, so no need for unhealthy red food dye. And since it’s made from nothing but fruit, you don’t have to worry about a sickly sweet frosting.
How to make strawberry buttercream
It’s pretty simple. You just grind up some freeze dried strawberries (or any fruit) and add them in toward the end of mixing regular buttercream.
Start by beating your softened butter until smooth. Begin adding powdered sugar, one cup-ish at a time. Always beat until smooth after each addition. There’s some kind of magic in incorporating it that way. Partway through, add your salt and vanilla.
Add a little more powdered sugar, but stop before it’s as sweet or as thick as you’d like. Add the ground strawberries. Mix on low. Try a bite (or three) to test for sweetness and texture. Add a little more powdered fruit or powdered sugar if needed.
As needed, add some heavy cream, a splash at a time, to smooth out the frosting.
Enjoy!
Tips for this recipe
Where to find freeze dried fruit
I get mine from Trader Joe’s, but I’ve seen it at Whole Foods, Target, and Safeway (although it’s been a year since I’ve checked). Sometimes, you need to look in the produce section or with the canned fruit or even by the candy. Each store is different, so feel free to ask someone if they know where it is. Some stores will start to carry items that their customers request, so it’s worth looking into!
As a last resort, Amazon carries some that are now a decent price, including the Trader Joe’s brand, but you’ll have to wait for shipping, so plan ahead if this is your only option.
Use any freeze dried fruit
I’ve used strawberries and raspberries and loved both. I’m definitely going to try blueberries soon, since my daughter is a huge fan. I’ve also seen mango, banana, coconut, and apple, so the sky is the limit on what flavor you go with.
Grind fruit well, sifting if needed
I loved that this left a few tiny flecks of strawberry in the frosting. It made it feel more authentic. However, if you want a super smooth frosting with no specks of fruit, be sure to grind it well then sift before using. You may need more strawberries than called for, as some will be lost to the sieve in the sifting process.
Don’t over mix
While this frosting prevents the gumminess of using meringue powder or a cornstarch based jam, it can end up gummy or grainy if mixed too long. It’s best to stop as soon as it looks and tastes good.
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Sturdy Strawberry Buttercream
- total time: 10-15 minutes
Yields: about 3 1/2 to 4 cups, enough to fill and frost a 2-3 layer 8” or 9” cake or 24-36 cupcakes (depending how thickly you frost them)
- 1 pound (2 cups) room temperature, unsalted, European style butter (creates a creamer frosting)
- 5-7 cups powdered sugar, to taste (sift before adding if your sugar looks lumpy or you live in a humid climate)
- 4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon fine ground sea salt
- 1-2 ounces freeze dried strawberries (to taste--start with one 1oz bag then use more as needed)
- 2-4 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
Instructions:
- Grind your strawberries using a spice grinder, coffee grinder, or single-serve blender attachment. A small food processor will do in a pinch, but you’ll have to stir it a few times to get all the pieces ground up. Grind to a powdery consistency (you can leave some larger bits of strawberry if you don’t mind the rustic look). Set aside.
- Add butter to the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or a large, deep mixing bowl and using a hand mixer). Beat butter on high for 1-2 minutes, scraping down sides and bottom of bowl with a rubber spatula a couple times.
- Add powdered sugar one-ish cup at a time, starting mixer on low to avoid a poof of sugar flying everywhere. Slowly increase speed to medium-high, mixing until smooth after each addition (about 30 seconds or so for each cup). Scrape down bowl every 2 cups. If it’s looking grainy, add a small splash of cream when you scrape the bowl.
- After adding about 4-5 cups powdered sugar, add vanilla and salt and mix until fully combined.
- Add your powdered strawberries and mix on low until fully combined and no clumps remain. Taste. Add more ground strawberry if needed. Once the strawberry taste is to your liking, check the thickness of the frosting as well as the sweetness. Add more powdered sugar, this time ½ cup at a time to avoid going too far. If need the frosting to be pretty sturdy (for an outdoor party or a tall or moist cake or if using a thin filling like bavarian cream, jam, or lemon curd), you can use up to 7 cups sugar total (or a 2lb bag). If it’s getting too sweet but you still need to thicken the frosting, add some more ground strawberries instead.
- Add cream as needed, in small splashes, to smooth out the frosting (but remember that the next step will help smooth it some as well). Don’t add too much cream, as there’s no recovering from that. Be conservative—you can add more later.
- Optional: whip the frosting a bit. Once you’re happy with the taste/thickness, scrape down the bowl again then beat on medium-high for 1-2 minutes, scraping sides down halfway through. You don’t want to mix too long or it may become gummy. If you notice air pockets, stir vigorously by hand with a spatula or wooden spoon for about a minute to release them. If you’re making a large batch of frosting, you can theoretically do this with your stand mixer on low, but I’ve found it’s not as effective as stirring by hand. Just consider it part of your workout and reward yourself with a spoonful of frosting.
Enjoy!
If not using that day, place in a sealed container or piping bags (if using the next day) and refrigerate. Frosting will last, tightly sealed, in the fridge 2-3 weeks or in the freezer about 2 months. Let come to room temperature before using. Depending on how long you chilled it, you may need to whip it quickly in your stand mixer or with a hand mixer to fluff it back up.